1. Field of Application
This invention relates to architectural members, especially objects, articles, and the like used in construction, constructions, manufacturers and fabrications; and more particularly to such members that incorporate illumination and/or display lighting.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The present invention relates generally to architectural members and illuminateable decorative articles that constitute illuminatable objects and more particularly to fabricated, solid, objects that have one or more viewable surfaces to be illuminated for a variety of selected purposes, and which may, when illuminated, define driveways, walkways, pathways, patios, vestibules, flooring and the like and/or display designs, greetings, or other information possibly even in a choice of colors and which for brevity may also be referred to as “Arch-Mems”.
Historically, illumination or lighting, as hereinabove set out, has been mainly from spotlights or appropriately placed lights that cast light upon a surface to be illuminated. There have been some attempts to provide self-illuminating fabricated solid objects, but most efforts in this direction rely on the inclusion of one or more cavities within the solid objects in which a light source system is housed. These cavities may create a structural weakness and a place for moisture or other contaminants to collect.
Some of such aforesaid illuminating objects include illuminating blocks that are to be used mainly on the periphery of walkways. The light source providing the illumination is placed within transparent, flexible, tubing-like material that is positioned within a recessed channel that is open to the top surface of the block. To provide power to the light source, an electrical junction box must be inserted into a second, much larger cavity that opens to the bottom surface of the block. These systems, however, may present several problems. To avoid moisture from reaching the lighting units, filler must be placed within the flexible, tube-like material around the light source. The filler, of course, should be transparent so as not to prevent the light from emanating from the surface of the object. A relatively large cavity is required to house the power system and that may create a structural weakness within the fabricated solid object. The relatively soft, transparent material used as a surface cover may create additional problems. The soft material may not withstand the damaging effects of both physical and chemical weathering to which it is exposed, and/or to the wearing effects of the weight of objects supported thereon and/or pedestrian or vehicular traffic.
Other attempts to provide illuminating surfaces rely on wiring that must be embedded into the surface itself and/or into a surface topping, such as plastic, asphalt, concrete, etc. as the topping is applied. Cavities that may need to be cut into the surface and/or its topping so that wiring can be connected to a light producing assemblage that must be fitted into each cavity. This type of system use a soft, plastic-like material placed over the light elements through which the light can emanate, but this approach suffers from the same limitations of poor durability as discussed above. Additionally, these systems can only be used in the initial installation of a walkway or a roadway.
Some attempts to provide for illumination such as in-pavement lighting may use LEDs (light emitting diodes) as a light source, but they may also rely on a system of optical lenses and prisms to direct the light. These lenses and prisms, however, result in glass or other transparent or translucent weak material being located on the surface of the respective and usually rather complex housings. Such units are usually only placed on the edge of the walkway or driveway to avoid damage from overhead foot or vehicular traffic.
Furthermore, there have been attempts to provide illuminating solid materials made in or conveying designs to meet almost any occasion, such as a holiday, birthday, seasonal event, wedding, birth, etc. These are limited, though, by the fact that they must be fabricated from clear transparent materials such as methylmethacrylate, Lexan, RTM, acrylic, or the like. Moreover, these solid materials must be etched or grooved to disperse light from the light source that must be inserted into a cavity formed in the material. These materials are inherently soft in the sense that they would not be practical for use where they would be continuously exposed to harsh weather conditions or more than occasional physical wear and tear. There is still an unmet need for a means to provide for fabricated hard material objects having incorporated illumination that is durable under even harsh conditions and can be presented with almost any desired design, or multiple alternating designs, in almost any desired color.
Some illuminating systems have a light source embedded within the material from which the object is made. These systems, however, do not provide any means for replacing a worn-out, damaged, or imperfect light source. For such systems, optical fibers, electronic circuitry, and light sources are usually permanently sealed and permanently imbedded within the material used to form the object, such as a paving block. To replace a light source in this system, the entire block would have to be replaced. The electrical supply means for such systems usually extend outside of the block. For these systems another disadvantage is that the paving blocks must be installed over a compressible aggregate, such as finely crushed gravel, in order to provide for the external wiring. Although such systems may allow for the use of a variety of colored light sources, once a color for the lights in a given block is chosen, there is no way to change the color of the lights, such as from orange for Halloween celebration to red and green for a Christmas theme, without replacing the entire block. Furthermore, such systems make no provision for a choice of design of a given block such as the choice to change from a pumpkin to a Christmas tree—again, the only choice is to change the entire block.
Solar powered stepping stones also rely on a sealed housing provided with a soft-material translucent lens through which the solar powered light can diffuse. The translucent material is preferably an acrylic resin which will not support heavy vehicular or pedestrian traffic.
Self-illuminating fabricated solid objects, such as the one shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,845,596 patented on Jul. 4, 1989, by Mouissie for Surface Illuminatio Device Using Optical Conductors are inappropriate as fabrications, and/or architectural or construction objects.
Fabricated solid objects, such as those shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,510,555 patented on Apr. 9, 1985 by Mori for Ornamental Lighting Device and in Patent Application Publication 2004/0032748 published on Feb. 19, 2004, by Trudeau et al for Illuminating Structure provide display lighting by the use of optical fibers imbedded in the member and only mention the use of LED's as a light source for all such imbedded fibers.
Self-illuminating fabricated solid objects, such as those shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,131,761 patented on Nov. 7, 2006 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,204,629 patented on Apr. 17, 2007, by Pipo et all for Self-illuminating Fabricated Solid Material Objects, thus, usually present problems because they require chambers, grooves, channels, pockets or panels of significant size for housing a light bulb or other light source from which light is emitted through optical conductive material extending from the light source to openings located on the top surface of the solid block. Additionally, none of these objects provides for an illuminated fabricated solid object, such as a paving block or stepping stone that has the strength, versatility and functionality of a concrete block or stepping stone, that provides for a lighted surface that includes various colors, patterns, or designs of light which may cover either part or the entire surface of the block or stone, where the light source means may be directly connected to the solid for example, where the light source means, the color of the light, and the design that is displayed on a visible surface can be changed or replaced easily and rapidly without having to replace the entire object.